Gas & Raku Kilns

Reduction. A fuel-burning kiln can be run with less oxygen than the flame wants, and the flame then takes oxygen out of the glaze and clay instead. That chemistry is what produces celadons, shinos, tenmokus and copper reds.

Electric kilns fire in oxidation and cannot do this. They are cleaner, quieter, far easier to site and much more repeatable, which is why most studios have one. But for reduction glazes there is no electric substitute.

Not casually, and not without proper ventilation. These burn fuel and produce combustion products, so they need either outdoor siting or a properly engineered vent arrangement. Olympic offer a vent hood for the 28 inch gas kilns as a separate item.

Requirements depend on your kiln, your fuel, your building and your local codes, and this is one area where getting it wrong is dangerous rather than inconvenient. Talk to us and to your local authority before you buy.

Whichever you can actually get. Olympic build these kilns for one or the other and you choose at order, so it is not a switch you flip later.

Natural gas needs a supply to the site and is usually cheaper to run. Propane comes in tanks, which makes it the practical choice for an outdoor kiln with no gas line, but you need somewhere safe to store the tanks and a plan for refills.

Where the air goes. In an updraft kiln the burners are underneath and the exhaust leaves through the top, so heat rises straight through the load. It is the simpler, lighter and cheaper arrangement, and the Olympic 2327G and 2827G are both updraft.

In a downdraft the intake and exhaust are both at the bottom, so heat is pulled down through the ware before it leaves. That gives more even firing and finer atmosphere control, at the price of a more complex kiln. The DD9 is Olympic's downdraft, and at 1,600 pounds with 4.5 inches of brick plus fiber it is a different class of machine.

It is built around getting hot work out quickly. The Olympic 23 Raku lifts its whole firing chamber off the ware on a hand winch, so the heat goes up and away from you instead of you leaning into it.

Raku kilns are also lightly built on purpose. The 23 Raku has 2.5 inches of brick because the firings are short and fast, not because it is a cheaper kiln. Heat retention is not what you want when you need the pot out in seconds.

You can heat the work in one, and the Olympic 1823E is built for exactly that. What you cannot do is the reduction, which happens outside the kiln in a bin of combustibles regardless of how the pot was heated.

The safety point matters more here than anywhere else on this page. Switch the kiln off at the breaker before you put tongs into the chamber. The elements are live and exposed, and steel tongs conduct beautifully.

It scales with chamber size, as you would expect. The Olympic 2327G at 7 cubic feet runs 240,000 BTU per hour across three burners. The 2827G at 10 cubic feet runs 280,000 across four.

The DD9 is the interesting one: 9.2 cubic feet on only 180,000 BTU across three burners, because a downdraft with 4.5 inches of brick plus fiber holds its heat far better than a lightly insulated updraft does.

Yes, and that is part of the appeal for some potters. There is no controller doing it for you: you are managing burners, damper and atmosphere by eye and by cone, and the firing needs attending throughout.

That hands-on control is exactly what reduction work requires, and it is a skill worth learning if reduction glazes are your goal. If you want to set a program and come back in twelve hours, buy electric.

By freight. The updraft kilns are relatively light at 320 to 450 pounds, but the DD9 downdraft is 1,600. Deliveries include curbside delivery, appointment scheduling, tracking and liftgate service where required.

Plan the route and the final position before the truck arrives, and for a gas kiln settle the fuel supply and ventilation first. Shipping is calculated at checkout. See our shipping page.

Performing the manufacturer's recommended initial test firing will not by itself void a return, as long as the other conditions in our policy are met.

Read the full terms, including timeframes and condition requirements, on our returns page.